Borzicactus sepium | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Caryophyllales |
Family: | Cactaceae |
Subfamily: | Cactoideae |
Genus: | Borzicactus |
Species: | B. sepium
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Binomial name | |
Borzicactus sepium (Kunth) Britton & Rose
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Synonyms | |
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Borzicactus sepium is a species of Borzicactus found in Ecuador.
Borzicactus sepium grows as a shrub with mostly little or no branches from the base, lying to ascending, light to dark green shoots and reaches heights of 0.5 to 2 meters with diameters of 3 to 10 centimeters. There are 6 to 18 low, blunt, grooved ribs. The white or light brown areoles are far apart. The bristly to needle-like thorns are brown, yellowish or blackish and turn gray with age. The 1 to 3 strong central spines are up to 4 centimeters long, the 8 to 10 marginal spines are up to 1 centimeter long.
The slightly zygomorphic, bright red flowers are up to 7.5 centimeters long and have a diameter of 3 centimeters. Their flower bracts are spread out. The spherical, brownish green to yellowish green fruits reach a diameter of up to 5 centimeters.[2]
Accepted supbspecies:[3]
Borzicactus sepium is widespread in northern and central Ecuador at altitudes of 1500 to 3500 meters.
The first description as Cactus sepium was in 1823 by Karl Sigismund Kunth.[4] The specific epithet sepium comes from Latin and means 'fence'. Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose placed the species in the genus Borzicactus in 1920.[5] Further nomenclature synonyms are Cereus sepium (Kunth) DC. (1828) and Cleistocactus sepium (Kunth) F.A.C.Weber (1904).